Aloha has quite a few more open flowers now.The triangle garden has new roses that are just beginning to grow. Mme. Joseph Schwartz, Evelyn, Abraham Darby, Coquette des Blanches and Baronne Henriette de Snoy will need another year at least to create a show, with only SdlM providing color now.Lavender Mist

A wider view of the triangle, with marjoram in the left rear and nepeta in front of the photo.

Gruss an Aachen's flowers are still pretty, with no balling or mildew.

Aunt Margy's Rose has fewer flowers now, but they're always exquisite.

Le Vesuve

The walk leading to the back of the garden with Madame Lambard on the right.

Can't wait for Evelyn and Plum Perfect to grow and bloom to fill in the middle a little more, also General Schablikine.

Exquisite at every stage! I adore love la vesuve.

I imagine you're glad for the rain, even if it causes the flowers not to look their best. As you say, change is inevitable. At the very worst, it gives you something to look forward to, when the garden will reach a new peak of beauty. We too have been having a very rainy (and cold) May.

Beautiful pictures Ingrid! It is amazing how Souvenir de la Malmaison just keeps going for you. What a wonderful rose!

Absolutely gorgeous, Ingrid. That sounds wonderful about your irrigation system extensions. I am having emitter failures on occasion in mine. I checked the rose emitters in April before Italy and got them all going. When I got back, a few roses looked unhappy and of course they were getting no water. I hope my plants forgive me. Italy was having cold wet weather so I did not see the drought effects when I was there. I wonder if the rose ID you questioned in Italy as not looking like Buff Beauty could be Reve d'Or. General Schablikine was such a favorite in Ninfa as was Mutabilis, planted I think by Lelia. I hope your General Schablikine comes along for you.

It all looks gorgeous. If this is your “quiet” time...wow! I’d be happy if that was my burst:)

vapor, I worry about my two Le Vesuve because they have so many dead branches underneath, but good luck with removing those without impaling oneself on the vicious thorns.

Melissa, a wet and cold spring right now for both of us is a huge blessing, isn't it? I know you had some worrisome dry months before that.

Krista, the combination of herbs and roses is a very old one and with good reason. Roses need something "plain" and with different leaves and small flowers to set off their beauty. Every star needs some satellite planets.

K S, Souvenir de la Malmaison is wonderful in my conditions, but definitely one of those roses that can be a failure in others. Ask Jeri!

Sheila, you're so right, the failure of the emitters or any of the hoses is the downside of a drip system. I'm hoping that having the guys who upgraded and expanded it come in for a few hours every two weeks will help as they said they'll check it every time they're here. Here's hoping. I suppose Ninfa's "Buff Beauty" could be Reve d'Or although the color seems a little pale. However, if the plant is in shade that might change the color. My General Schablikine is not flowering at the moment, but young teas take a while to settle in.

oursteelers, in truth some of my roses are just now beginning to bloom or show much color, such as Aloha, Le Vesuve and Deanna Krause, which is nice because the overlap helps to maintain continuity. The real down time here is the height of summer when the high temps cause the roses to stop blooming or just look small and shabby.

I took a few more pictures today, but I must admit that the joy I felt at the height of the spring flush has been tamped down somewhat. Something in addition to the mildew is attacking some of the buds and opening blooms so that they're unsightly, and since I don't spray they will have to just get over it. Fortunately it's never the whole garden that's affected and there's always something to admire. I'm happy to see my very first opening bud of Plum Perfect!

If you look carefully you can spot Bebe the bunny behind Souvenir de la Malmaison. The bloom on the left is La France and the others are Potter and Moore finally opening its blooms.
Plum Perfect showing its incredible purple color.Le Vesuve's varying shades of pinkA full-bush shot of Le VesuveJesse Hildreth (not blooming presently), Mrs. B.R. Cant and Madame LambardHere you can see William R. Smith between Mrs. B.R. Cant and Mme. Lambard

Bishop's Castle

A glimpse of some higher hills in the background. In England you'd probably call them mountains and in Colorado you'd never notice them.

These pictures just get better and better! My Jesse is flushing now, so yours must be over for now.

Ingrid, as always, your garden looks stunning. I just love it in the natural setting with the hills and granite rocks. So calming and serene. Love Mr./Ms. Bunny as well. What a cute picture of it!

Is your Plum Perfect on its own root or grafted? The reason I am asking is that mine is on its own root, but I think it is sending runner roots in my yard and spreading (not a bad thing). I am trying to see if it is Plum Perfect or another rose (Midnight Blue--also on own root) I once had in its spot that I dug out in a fit of rage when I couldn't stand its ugly grey flowers on it (they were purple in the morning and by afternoon they had faded to an ugly grey during our hot summers). No worries as so far, Plum Perfect does not seem to get that horrible color when the blooms are fading. I like this rose very much.

Comtesse, in regards to bird baths, I can't really answer your question as I have to fill mine up daily as they dry up in my hot climate by the late afternoon.

Ingrid, slightly off topic but how big is your piece of land? I don’t remember reading that anywhere but it sure seems like you have a ton of space!

Comtesse, I don't think anyone could express those thoughts any more elegantly and beautifully than you have. Your deep appreciation of nature and all living things is an underlying thread that I sense in so many of your writings.

I imagine there is less of a problem of scum building up in my dry climate, but it does happen, and I deal with it via a hand trowel that I use to scrape it out every day, and you can see the hose that I use to flush out the dirty water while I'm scraping. It's something that I'm still able to do, even though I do have to rest afterwards.

mustbnuts, my two bushes of Plum Perfect are own-root as they're from the Antique Rose Emporium, and they're such young roses that I haven't noticed any wayward behavior. I'm glad you have good things to day about this rose. Midnight Blue would not have lasted long in my garden, either, if its blooms could not last through even one day.

oursteelers, we don't have that much land, somewhat less than two acres, but the differing elevations and rock features break it all up and make it look much larger. I remember once looking at a totally flat 5-acre parcel and marveling at how small it appeared.